Vanessa Hemson had the great idea of combining our blog SWOT analysis and designing a Wiki learning activities. She has already produced a children's book wiki at http://vanessahemson.wikispaces.com/, so I thought I might implement her idea. In spirit of constructivism, I invite you all to participate in my blog SWOT analysis in this Wiki space. Looking forward to your commentary!
Julienne
Contributor..........................
Julienne Morrison
Rachel Bryan
Vanessa Hemson
Carolyn Taylor
Kimberley Marechal
Kelli Harris
Michael Rose
Initials.............
jm
rb
VH
CT
KM
KH
MR
A SWOT Analysis on Blogging in Education
Strengths
A reflective journal in which thought processes can be
illuminated (jm)
Utilises a media / current technology that most children
enjoy [rb]
Networking is enabled by allowing people to connect (VH)
Children can connect with a real audience. (VH)
Parents can share a student's learning journey (VH)
The blog can be personalised to the students, which means the learning is personalised (CT)
As a teacher, new thoughts and ideas can be added as our knowledge and understanding increases. (MR)
*
Weaknesses
Children must know what is an appropriate reflection which can
be posted on a blog (jm)
There needs to be very clear objectives and progression through
the experience in order that the desired learning takes place. If not well thought out, it just becomes kids using a media they tend to think is fun [rb]
bullying and intimidation by students can exist in online blogs (VH)
Information on blogs can be biased or inaccurate (CT)
Can be time consuming especially if students are asked to
contribute as part of homework, may suck time away from family
commitments (CT)
Blogs are time consuming and if you as a teacher are blogging on subject matter, students will expect regular updated blog posts. (MR)
Opportunities
Encourages students to write (jm)
Potential to tie together learning from across a range of subjects [rb]
Students from different backgrounds, cultures and personalities can interact with each other in a safe environment
Opportunities to include 'absent' students & learn from their experiences.
Encourages learning outside the classroom, may be a good way to set homework. (MR)
Threats
Learning setting may be contrived and not authentic (jm)
May be abused if not monitored carefully [rb]
Risk of abuse by non students and other undesirables
trying to connect with children (VH).
Students scared or uncertain about privacy issues/not willing
to say too much for fear that people will think they aren’t good writers or similar reasons. (CT)
May have technical issues associated with the blogs, access may be restricted when away from school, or regular updates and shutdowns may occur. (MR)
A SWOT Analysis on Wikispaces in Education
Strengths
*Allows for true integration of technology into instruction and learning.(VH)
* Learning and teaching in this kind of online space is unlimited and never ending (VH)
* higher order thinking and critical reflection and analysis can be developed through the use of scaffolds (VH)
* Truly collaborative medium (jm)
* Easy to input information and fun for both designer and users (jm)
*Each student can feel a part of an investigation and contribute as much as they like. (MR)
Weaknesses
* Technology may not be particularly robust (VH)
* wiki's may be banned in some schools (VH)
* spelling may become an issue as there is no spell check (VH) Actually Vanessa - there is a spell check. When in edit mode:)
* how can you "draw curriculum to a close" using this kind of online space (VH)
* very little control over table sizes with much fiddly editing to make them and keep them looking good (jm)
*As wikis are a digital technology the school needs the resources to support this kind of learning for a whole class session.(MR)
Opportunities
* allows for real world problems to arise and be part of learning process, work may be lost or wiki collapses (VH)
* make students aware of copyright issues and in a real context they are able to learn about them (VH)
* students can design their own wiki (jm)
*Students will have the knowledge to create their own wikiwhich may benefit them after school and when outside the classroom.
Threats
* copyright issues and breaches, you have little control as the creator but who is liable if there is a breach? (VH)
* months of work and collaborative learning may be lost by poor editing or misues, vandilism of site (VH)
* designer needs to constantly monitor and adjust (jm)
*Recognition of students work may not occur if there ideas can be easily deleted by another student (MR)
A SWOT Analysis on Websites in Education
Strengths
* students able to connect with a worldwide audience (VH)
* ideal for linking to other websites, blogs, games, information (jm)
*stable and well established, cannot be interfered with (jm)
*A great way for a teacher to display newly discovered resources for students (MR)
Weaknesses
* websites tend to be static and not overly interactive (VH)
* A good knowledge of web design is needed to engage the students and ensure that the links and resources given work (MR)
Opportunities
*students begin to realise that sharing information is a responsibility therefore accurate research needs to be presented (VH)
*if well designed, can be a great source of information (jm)
*Creates a great resource for students to use that the teacher has created and so the content will be reliable and continue to grow overtime, creating an almost super website for particular subject matter. (MR)
Threats
* information needs to be accurate as there is a danger for misinformation (VH)
* students need to determine whether a particular website are a suitable source for them (jm)
* Access to websites cane be somewhat difficult sometimes, especially if you lose your user name and cannot recover it, rendering your website, useless. (which happened to me) (MR)
Julienne
Julienne Morrison
Rachel Bryan
Vanessa Hemson
Carolyn Taylor
Kimberley Marechal
Kelli Harris
Michael Rose
jm
rb
VH
CT
KM
KH
MR
A SWOT Analysis on Blogging in Education
- A reflective journal in which thought processes can be
illuminated (jm)- Utilises a media / current technology that most children
enjoy [rb]- Networking is enabled by allowing people to connect (VH)
- Children can connect with a real audience. (VH)
- Parents can share a student's learning journey (VH)
- The blog can be personalised to the students, which means the learning is personalised (CT)
- As a teacher, new thoughts and ideas can be added as our knowledge and understanding increases. (MR)
*- Children must know what is an appropriate reflection which can
be posted on a blog (jm)- There needs to be very clear objectives and progression through
the experience in order that the desired learning takes place. If not well thought out, it just becomes kids using a media they tend to think is fun [rb]- bullying and intimidation by students can exist in online blogs (VH)
- Information on blogs can be biased or inaccurate (CT)
- Can be time consuming especially if students are asked to
contribute as part of homework, may suck time away from familycommitments (CT)
- Learning setting may be contrived and not authentic (jm)
- May be abused if not monitored carefully [rb]
- Risk of abuse by non students and other undesirables
trying to connect with children (VH).- Students scared or uncertain about privacy issues/not willing
to say too much for fear that people will think they aren’t good writers or similarreasons. (CT)
A SWOT Analysis on Wikispaces in Education
*Allows for true integration of technology into instruction
and learning.(VH)
* Learning and teaching in this kind of online space is
unlimited and never ending (VH)
* higher order thinking and critical reflection and analysis
can be developed through the use of scaffolds (VH)
* Truly collaborative medium (jm)
* Easy to input information and fun for both designer
and users (jm)
*Each student can feel a part of an investigation and
contribute as much as they like. (MR)
* Technology may not be particularly robust (VH)
* wiki's may be banned in some schools (VH)
* spelling may become an issue as there is no spell check (VH)
Actually Vanessa - there is a spell check. When in edit mode:)
* how can you "draw curriculum to a close" using this kind
of online space (VH)
* very little control over table sizes with much fiddly editing to
make them and keep them looking good (jm)
*As wikis are a digital technology the school needs the resources
to support this kind of learning for a whole class session.(MR)
* allows for real world problems to arise and be part of
learning process, work may be lost or wiki collapses (VH)
* make students aware of copyright issues and in a real
context they are able to learn about them (VH)
* students can design their own wiki (jm)
*Students will have the knowledge to create their own
wikiwhich may benefit them after school and when outside
the classroom.
* copyright issues and breaches, you have little control as the
creator but who is liable if there is a breach? (VH)
* months of work and collaborative learning may be lost by poor
editing or misues, vandilism of site (VH)
* designer needs to constantly monitor and adjust (jm)
*Recognition of students work may not occur if there ideas
can be easily deleted by another student (MR)
A SWOT Analysis on Websites in Education
* students able to connect with a worldwide audience (VH)
* ideal for linking to other websites, blogs, games, information (jm)
*stable and well established, cannot be interfered with (jm)
*A great way for a teacher to display newly discovered resources for students (MR)
* websites tend to be static and not overly interactive (VH)
* A good knowledge of web design is needed to engage the students
and ensure that the links and resources given work (MR)
*students begin to realise that sharing information is a
responsibility therefore accurate research needs to be presented (VH)
*if well designed, can be a great source of information (jm)
*Creates a great resource for students to use that the teacher has created
and so the content will be reliable and continue to grow overtime, creating an almost super website for particular subject matter. (MR)
* information needs to be accurate as there is a danger for misinformation (VH)
* students need to determine whether a particular website are a suitable source for them (jm)
* Access to websites cane be somewhat difficult sometimes, especially if you lose your user name and cannot recover it, rendering your website, useless. (which happened to me) (MR)